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Around 3,000 Scots were imprisoned in Durham's then abandoned castle and cathedral, with an estimated 50 dying every day, and about 1,700 were buried at locations around what is now a Unesco World Heritage Site.

These were not veterans, these were ordinary lads from farms, workshops, towns and fishing villages

Dr Pam Graves, Durham University

An archaeology team from the University of Durham uncovered a mass grave in the city's Palace Green in 2013 and have since consulted experts, interested parties and the public in a series of meetings to discuss how to commemorate the soldiers.

The bodies must be reburied as a condition of the exhumation licence granted by the Ministry of Justice and the possibility of repatriating the remains to Scotland has been raised.

Archaeological analysis of the skeletons found the men were mainly young, inexperienced soldiers.

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Oliver Cromwell captured the Scottish troops almost 400 years ago

Dr Pam Graves, a senior lecturer in archaeology at Durham University, said: "We know these people had relatively harsh childhoods.

"These were not veterans, these were ordinary lads from farms, workshops, towns and fishing villages."

The Battle of Dunbar was one of the most brutal, bloody and short battles of the 17th century civil war.